A security expert and Chief Executive Officer, Background Check International (BCI), Kola Olugbodi, has warned of an imminent increase in the rate of kidnap and robbery as Christmas and New Year celebrations draw near.
Olugbodi, who said this at the weekly e-Discourse organised by the leading Pan-Africa forum, Platforms Africa, also expressed concerns over the recent surge in ritual killings in hotels, as he offered personal security tips to lodgers and travellers during the Yuletide and beyond.
Platforms Africa is an e-Community of intellectuals, policy molders, and opinion leaders in the continent.
A statement by Adeola Yusuf, Team Lead, Platforms Africa, organiser of the event, quoted Olugbodi, Africa’s leading background check expert, to have picked holes in the belief by an average African that it is only those who are well to do in the society that criminals target.
“Kidnappers will pick a so-called ordinary man, knowing that his extended family, friends, associates, and even his community members would all rally together to pay N20 million ransom.
“Things have seriously changed these days. Insecurity has become an everyday affair. Yeah, I know that armed robbery incidence increases during the Christmas season because the guys that have plans to go spend the season in their country homes are the main targets.
“But, the scenario now is that armed robbers have upgraded to kidnapping. They can make a whole year’s ‘gain’ by just picking a whole busload of passengers.
“An average African is religious and philosophical. So we don’t pay so much attention to personal security, but the prevalent criminal situations in our countries have proved that those situations now happen randomly,” he said at the event moderated by Nairobi, Kenya-based veteran journalist, Kurian Musa.
Though Olugbodi said that the first thing to do is to report the crime to the police, he offered useful tips on personal security for travellers, lodgers, and all Nigerians during the Yuletide and beyond.
He said; “Let your family members know your movement. If you will have to put up in a hotel, ensure you tell your loved ones the name and location of the hotel. Do this right at the reception of the hotel, in the presence of the staff and visitors.
“Ritualist activities are now on the increase, hence, do your due diligence upfront on the location you’re going and the hospitality facilities in them.”
